The present invention relates to a steering or suspension unit, in particular for use in commercial vehicles or utility vehicles.
Steering units are well known in the prior art. They serve for mounting vehicle wheels on the frame of the vehicle, in particular of the commercial vehicle, in a spring-loaded manner. To this end, the steering unit has a receiving portion for an air spring as well as a region for pivotably mounting on the vehicle frame. Furthermore, there is usually provided a region for receiving the axle or the axle stub. Up to now, such steering units have preferably been produced as single-piece castings or forgings, wherein, for each type of commercial vehicle, a separate steering unit has to be developed and provided, which corresponds to the building space conditions in the chassis area and which allows for taking up the necessary loads. The steering units known in the prior art can therefore be used for one type of vehicle only and the development work is accordingly great. There is a need for improvement to make it possible to use a steering unit in different types of vehicles and to simultaneously reduce the weight of the steering unit by an intelligent distribution of functions.
The object underlying the present invention is to provide a steering unit, which can be used for manifold purposes and which, at the same time, has a lower weight than the steering units known in the prior art.